He’s from the Empire. He’s here to help.

TD-0013, writer and performer of the popular “A Different Point of View” segments and upcoming FarPoint Media distributed show “A Different Point of View: The Podcast” needs your help! The surly Stormtrooper will be donning the armor and full regalia of the Imperial Sandtrooper and walking 6.1 miles in the Arizona sun to raise money to help fight Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that generally strikes people between the ages of 20 and 50. Symptoms can range from numbness in the limbs to paralysis or loss of vision. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatments are giving hope to those affected by the disease

“I do this every year because it´s something I can be proactive in,” TD-0013 said. “Most of the events I’m part of, the 501st is used as glorified ’set-pieces’, or giant action figures. These are all great events too, but I guess the MS Walk is my baby because I feel like I’m helping make a future change. I’m doing something to help cure and prevent it.”

If you would like to sponsor TD-0013 in this endeavor, go to http://adpov.net for a link where you can make a donation in his behalf on the secured National MS Society website, or simply click on the black and orange button here in this announcement.

It’s been something he’s said for years, and this time, it really is true.

He’s from the Empire. He’s here to help.

Welcome to Show #52!

Whoops. This is what happens when you do too many shows per week. Sometimes, you forget to create an important segment… like the opening and closing segments of this week’s Babylon Podcast.

Deep Geeking: Tim and Summer (along with studio guests Brian and the other Tim) move ahead with episode analysis from Season 2 with “A Race Through Dark Places”, another Season 2 episode with layers and subexts that aren’t fully revealed until later.

A rogue telepath is being interrogated by the Psi Cops, and at the moment of death he gleans a clue to where he might find more runaways: Babylon 5.

Bester arrives on B5, looking for Talia’s help in uncovering the rogue telepaths and bringing them in from the cold. Before he can completely convince her to help him, he’s attacked by the rogues and they take Talia away with them.

We learn which member of the command staff has been helping those telepaths inclined to do so escape the far reach of Psi Corps, and we see a familiar Lurker come to the forefront, learning once again that not everyone is exactly what they seem.

We also discover that there may be quite a bit more to the gifts Talia received as a farewell from Jason Ironheart, and that those undiscovered talents help tip the balance in a telepath battle for survival on the station.

Delenn asks Sheridan out to dinner, in order to begin learning more about each other, and become a better bridge between humans and Minbari, as she wants. Sheridan and Ivanova also deal with an inconvenient bit of bureaucratic red tape regarding budgets and allowances for their quarters, which is resolved in a familiar manner.

Episode order for this section of Season 2 is also discussed.

“A Race Through Dark Places” is available for download at iTunes.

images courtesy Babylon5.ru and the Lurker’s Guide

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

Link: Sevylon 5
Link: Smart Pop Books
Promo: Support TD-0013 in the MS Walk

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #52 [30:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4895)

Welcome to Show #51!

Tim, Summer, a contemplative Jeffrey, and a wisecracking Michael spend the warm-up cracking themselves up. We are so damned easily amused. This is what happens when you stay up late at night and geek on Babylon 5. Don’t try this at home kids!

Deep Geeking: Tim and Summer (along with studio guests Brian and the other Tim) move ahead with episode analysis from Season 2 with “Soul Mates”, one of the better episodes of Season 2, rife with intrigue, hidden agendas and sly humor.

Londo Mollari has been granted a wish from the Emperor, in honor of the 20th anniversary of his Ascension. He has requested a divorce from his three wives, and has summoned them to the station so he can choose which ones he’d like to excise from his life.

At the same time, Matt Stoner arrives on the station and immediately sets Garibaldi on edge, and during the course of reporting his odd encounter, discovers that he and Talia had a previous relationship, one which wasn’t pleasant for Talia.

Is there a direct connection between Stoner’s arrival on the station, and Londo’s wife Mariel, and her purchase of the dangerous-to-Centauri artifact that he brought on board? Is there a deeper relationship between Mariel and G’Kar, knowing where Stoner found the artifact in the first place? None of these questions are resolved completely, and the possible iterations of who-knew-what-when and who-knew-whom can be argued in circles for a long time.

We also see a side story with Delenn dealing with the unexpected physiological changes she’s undergone because of her transformation into a human-Minbari hybrid. Her asking Ivanova for help and their interaction and female bonding makes for a very amusing break from the emotions of the Garibaldi-Winters-Stoner triangle.

“Soul Mates” is available for download at iTunes.

images courtesy Babylon5.ru and Gateworld.net

Listener Feedback: Jeff and Mike abuse Summer and her geek girl shopping habits; Haiku: Zathras; Lambeau from Houston has B5 Limericks for us; Chris from Detroit thought that Robin’s interview was parody; Walter from LA on Show #46, and compares it to Wingin’ It; Jeffrey lays down the snark on Mike regarding Martian property sales. Tim reads an email from Sean on the Drazi conflict from “Geometry of Shadows”.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

Link: Sevylon 5
Link: Smart Pop Books
Promo: The Butcher Block

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #51 [1:02:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4634)

Welcome to Show #50!

Wow. 50 episodes. Milestone time! But are the ratings good enough for us to get picked up for our second season? Never fear…

Tim recounts an Apollo 12 Tim Conrad anecdote, from Andrew Chayken’s “A Man on the Moon”, in honor of Jeffrey’s gift last week, and musings about our return to the moon. Jeff recounts an interview with Buzz Aldrin about going back out there, and we all wistfully gaze out into space, and stare at the acreage Michael owns, both on the moon and on Mars.

Pay no attention to the flurry of domain registrations.

Deep Geeking: Tim and Summer move ahead with episode analysis from Season 2 with “Spider in the Web”, another in the line of setup episodes, where some of the threads reach deep into future seasons, and some threads tap dance away, exiting stage left never to be heard from again.

Learning more about the political situation on Mars, and what Taro Isogi and Amanda Carter are hoping to achieve by creating an independent Mars, colors many events later that directly and indirectly affect life on the station and the lives of many of our characters. It’s the first example where we see Sheridan dealing with lies told to him by government officials, and exposure Psi Corps conspiracies and experiments that come back around again.

It’s also the first in what could be considered a Talia Winters trilogy, so to speak, since she’s a major component of these episodes, as well as her relationship with Psi Corps as more questionable Corps behaviors and practices are revealed.

“Spider in the Web” is available for download from iTunes.

images courtesy Babylon5.ru and Gateworld.net

Listener Feedback: Trampas lets us know about his Koshmas holiday wishes to get more B5, which he received; Randy from Atlanta comments on Show #45, wanting to know if Tim is the most eclectic geek there is; what does count as good SF cheese these days? Jarsto wants Tim and Jeff to do a Bad Puns podcast so they wouldn’t have to do it here, and maybe the creature entered the coordinates for Z’ha’dum into the guidance system of the Copernicus; Edmund tests his microphone and sumbits praise to Michael’s audio editing prowess (check out Podholes if you want to improve your podcasting); Gary from Jacksonville asks if Tim will be updating the podcast intro for our Season 2, and wants to know what Jeff’s been drinking so he can have some.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

Link: Lunar Embassy
Link: Smart Pop Books
Promo: Speaking of Beer
Promo: Technorama

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #50 [1:03:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4584)

Welcome to Show #49!

This week, Tim, Summer and Jeff talk about the New Year, Jeff’s awesome new gift, and some starship geeking. Also, Summer did find that there was a second image that did indeed include the large Vorlon ships, so don’t send her any emails about it. Jeff also experienced his first online viewing of a Babylon 5 episode over at AOL’s In2TV.

Deep Geeking: Tim and Summer continue episode analysis with “The Long Dark”, a slightly uneven show that features a wonderful performance by longtime character actor Dwight Schultz (The A-Team, ST:TNG)

In talking about another weaker episode, they understand where the story was supposed to be taking the characters and the viewers, but some minor things done didn’t ring quite true. We loved Amis, we see how Garibaldi goes straight for the obvious solution, we get to enjoy Franklin warming up his social skills, and seeing Sheridan taking command in the council chambers with members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds.

Why didn’t the Shadows send transportation to some of their minions that wouldn’t be able to get back home as quickly or at all? How did the Narn know what that beast looked like in order to leave a record of it in the Book of G’Quan? Were the Shadows planning to move far slower than intended, or were they undone by their desire to move faster on Earth?

images courtesy Babylon5.ru and Gateworld.net

Listener Feedback: Thomas from Flagstaff on the B5 Christmas parodies, and the dangerous ground it can lead to; Jarsto brings home a theorized conspiracy theory on links between the Wind Swords and the Shadows, and Kosh’s poisoning being a direct Shadow attack, but his evidence falls apart from being based on the assumption that Morden was the character seen in C&C in “The Gathering”; Jarsto sends kudos for the holiday clips selection; Trampas from The Signal wants to hear more of Mike’s newbie perspective in the Deep Geeking segment; Matt in Michigan comments on Robin’s perspective, and Jarsto’s segment. Tim reads emails from Katrina about Robin Atkin Downes, and from Martin about Jeff’s Modern Marvels “Snow” episode, and Vorlon footprints.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

Link: Starship Dimensions
Link: Smart Pop Books
Promo: Speaking of Beer
Promo: Technorama

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #49 [1:03:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4792)

Welcome to Show #48!

More Happy Holidays from The Babylon Podcast!

This week, Tim, Summer and Jeff continue to present some of the “Best Of” moments from 2006, and boy did we have a lot of highlights (and alcohol) to go through.

Yes, we were still drinking. A lot. You have no idea.

Vote for us! Let’s get this show’s rank into The Pickle’s Top 100!

Shameless related begging: Summer’s also really hoping to convince the publisher to eventually do a collection on Babylon 5. If you’d be interested in buying one if they did do a B5 collection, let Summer know, either here in comments, or over in the Babylon Podcast forums.

We are still considering doing a separate B5 Fan Tales segment in the future, so send us those favorite anecdotes of yours.

Your feedback does matter, and is welcome! You can call us at 206-338-2259, or email us and tell us what you think… and likely hear it played or read on the show. Please try to keep the voicemail comments as brief as possible.

Link: Babylon 5 Fans
Link: Smart Pop Books

 

 Babylon Podcast: Show #48 [1:00:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4108)